The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has called on stakeholders to embrace the provisions of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administrative Control (NAFDAC) 2016 Guidelines for positive change.

He made the call at the official presentation of NAFDAC guidelines for regulatory activities on Tuesday in Abuja at the agency’s headquarters.

Adewole listed the five NAFDAC guidelines for regulatory activities to include: good pharma co-vigilance practice and guidelines, and good manufacturing practice and guidelines for pharmaceutical products.

The rest, he said, were good manufacturing practice and guidelines for pharmaceutical products, good clinical practice and guidelines and good practices for pharmaceutical quality control laboratories guidelines.

The minister said that in order to achieve its mandate, NAFDAC required full legal and political backing.

He therefore assured the agency that the Ministry of Health was prepared to support it with necessary policies to regulate its activities.

Adewole said that the policy trust of the present administration on NAFDAC was the availability of essential medicines, self-sufficiency in promoting local manufacturing industry and clinical trial practices.

This, he said, also included the eradication of Substandard, Spurious, Falsely-labelled, Falsified and Counterfeit medical product (SSFFC).

The minister said that the guidelines were not meant to hinder the operations of those concerned, but to ensure global competiveness for players in the pharmaceutical and other healthcare sectors.

He, however, stressed that the guidelines placed great emphasis on quality, safety and efficacy.

Mrs Yetunde Oni, the acting Director-General of NAFDAC, said that the guideline was detailed enough to assist relevant stakeholders to comply with the agency’s regulations.

Oni explained that the guidelines were to be used in conjunction with other relevant and extant statutes in the country.

She said that the practices prescribed in the guidelines were to be considered as general guides that could be adapted to meet individual needs as long as stakeholders complied with regulatory objectives.

She also appealed to stakeholders to join hands with NAFDAC to safeguard public health. (NAN)

•Photo shows Prof. Adewole.

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